Methane plus Oxygen (i.e. combustion / burning) yields Carbon Dioxide and Water with energy release as sole “virtue”. Human-caused global climate change is due to increased atmospheric CO2. Methane itself, when free in the atmosphere, captures and retains heat much the same as does CO2, so those who say that natural gas (methane) is a bridge between fossil fuels and renewables are full of shit. Methane IS a fossil fuel which, when burned, yields CO2. Its sole virtue over coal and petroleum is that it doesn’t also yield other atmospheric contaminants (“smog”).

Those are not fracking wells. Those are the old-fashioned ‘nodding donkey’ wells. Low yield oil wells, lifting the oil out of the ground by a reciprocating pump driven by a flywheel which drives the ‘head’.

BUt yes vast swaths of the SW and central California are covered in these things – one every 1000 ft as in that map – for square mile after square mile.

Yes…..as I said, there is a “smattering of gas” wells among the hundreds of oil wells.

Frugal, I have to agree with you on the wind turbine issue. thankfully solar farms continue to pop up here in the desert. Sunshine is free and abundant with about 320 days of intense sunshine a year.

Weak natural gas prices have slowed exploration down somewhat, but the horizontal drilling and fracking of shale formations does continue here at a rapid pace in the Delaware Basin, which is part of the Permian. We’ve not got the ugly oil pump jacks like those east of us, but more exist now than 5 years ago.

Most animals have the common sense and instinct to not shit in their own domiciles, and to not destroy the ecosystem in which they reside.
Not humans. Nope,
Gawd gived us the wurld to dawminayte ovur; sow we kan do whutevur we wanna due.

Now if only Pope Frank would point out the obvious, that God’s existence is really nothing other than a human-contrived myth, I might consider stopping by one of his churches someday for a look-around.

Well, if you view the Catholic church as the producer of the world’s longest running theatrical production you could consider each church as a set to get an appreciation of the construction and decorations of each individual edifice. The same organization has supported artists of every ilk that have made our lives richer with their works. I’m particularly thankful to have had the opportunity, as a non-believer, to have participated in musical portions of services here and abroad and having had to learn lyrics in French, Spanish, Latin, Italian, Hebrew and German. Of course, I absolutely love the music of The Book of Mormon!

“God is not a divine being or a magician, but the Creator who brought everything to life…”

Wait a sec, God is not a “divine being”? Then how could anybody be one if God isn’t? BTW, this philosophy still presupposes a belief in gods in order to work. I don;t accept the premise that there is such a thing, so I don’t accept the conclusions drawn from it as valid. They may occasionally stumble upon the right answer, but probably through the wrong reasoning.

I once read something that said the translation of whichever ancient language was used to write the stories for the Bible mistranslated the ancient word for “moon” as “year”, so we had guys like Methuselah living 969 years instead of 969 moons, which would be around 74.5 years (13 moons per year). That would make a hell of a lot more sense. Of course it’s nowhere near the 120 years Pat says we’re all supposed to be reaching today.

Republicans would say we’d have to raise the retirement age to 900. And since the program won’t catch up for a while, we’ll have to cut payments to beneficiaries. Makes no sense to me, either, but that’s how conservatives deal with financial shortfalls in programs – they gut the programs rather than raise taxes.

I saw a guy in a video whose house was 100 yards away from a lava flow that was advancing at 10 yds./hr.. He wasn’t in any hurry to leave and it didn’t appear that he was trying to move his possessions!

I think she’s just worried that the donations to her PAC will dry up now that it’s been revealed she isn’t actually passing any of those donations on to the candidates and causes she claimed she would support. Or? She’s decided to return to school, to learn English, and plans on running for Homecoming Queen.